People who sing in choirs do so because they love it. Many individuals have told me that they drag themselves to choir practice after a demanding day or week and leave energized. They enjoy the challenge of "voices united" and for those who sing in church choirs there is the aspect of praising God in this unique form of prayer. The late philosopher Max Picard argued that music and singing is paradoxically an expression of silence which brings us into closer communion with God.
I read an NPR article this week about a study from Sweden which discovered that singing in a choir actually synchronizes the heartbeats of the participants. Cool!
Using pulse monitors attached to the singers' ears, the researchers measured the changes in the choir members' heart rates as they navigated the intricate harmonies of a Swedish hymn. When the choir began to sing, their heart rates slowed down."When you sing the phrases, it is a form of guided breathing," says musicologist Bjorn Vickhoff of the Sahlgrenska Academy who led the project. "You exhale on the phrases and breathe in between the phrases. When you exhale, the heart slows down."
But what really struck him was that it took almost no time at all for the singers' heart rates to become synchronized. The readout from the pulse monitors starts as a jumble of jagged lines, but quickly becomes a series of uniform peaks. The heart rates fall into a shared rhythm guided by the song's tempo.
Are you a choir member, or have you been? What is your experience of singing in a choir? Is singing in a choir a form of praise and prayer for you?
6 comments:
Oh YES! I will be singing in choirs until my last vocal cord is snapped, or I am compassionately kicked out! It is a spiritual practice for me! Love the things I learn and the people I learn with!
:-)
Singing as relaxation. Who knew?
I was always in school choirs as a kid, and it was one of those things that we just had to do (what with two music teachers as parents.) Looking back on it, it was a good experience and, in part, laid the groundwork for those times as an adult where I've peform with a band.
Appropos of nothing, too: that cartoon is neat, but have you noticed that Linus' mouth is closed and he's the one talking? I assume Charlie Brown is singing? Weird.
My singing also has proven to affect people's hearts....as in cardiac arrest. That's why I am more than happy to enjoy the choir and not be one of them!
I agree 100% with Judy. I love the experience of singing in a choir - all of it - the work, the frustration, the joy, the camaraderie, the fulfillment of having accomplished something together that we couldn't do on our own. The Swedish study is fascinating but I must admit that occasionally my heart has been racing as I performed with my choir a piece of music for which I felt under prepared.
Yes, singing in a choir is definitely a form of prayer and praise. Sometimes the anthem moves me more deeply than the sermon. Sorry David!
I have this Peanuts picture enlarged and posted in the choir room.
Need a "like" button here ! ;-)
"All God's children got a place in the choir
Some sing lower, some sing higher..."
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